


The Cry of Your Bones

by awkwardCerberus



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I'm drowning in galra keith, M/M, haha so much Galra Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7559377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardCerberus/pseuds/awkwardCerberus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith pulled his helmet off and turned to look at his reflection in Red's eyes. That couldn't be his reflection, there was no way it could be. He wasn't Galran, there was no was he could be a Galra. He killed Galra, he didn't become one.</p>
<p>But he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cry of Your Bones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rest_In_Spaghetti_Never_Forgetti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rest_In_Spaghetti_Never_Forgetti/gifts).



> ooooooooohhhh man Voltron has destroyed me I've watched it about four times, and also I have discovered the magic of tumblr's Galra!Keith theories so yes I've been wallowing in those for a couple weeks now
> 
> Also yes, this is another story for Shelby bc if I have to suffer then you bet your sweet lil patootie you will too

Team Voltron could hardly call this an easy victory. The Galra had been waiting for them on the surface of the desert planet that had sent out the distress signal, and it was like flying into a sprung trap.

But they had fought hard and won harder; the remaining Galra troops had fled the atmosphere with their tail between their legs. The Paladins regrouped at the entrance of the fallen base, where the Red Lion was crouched and ready to pounce, dutifully waiting for Keith to finish clearing the facility.

The door slid open; Keith stepped out to meet his team. Except, as the dust settled and the last few clouds of smoke swirled away, what walked out wasn't Keith. At least, not from where everyone else was standing.

"It's all clear, guys, the place is empty..."

The last words trailed off as Keith froze. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge had their bayards raised defensively. Shiro had his Galran arm glowing and primed for the defensive, although he looked like he was trying to hold back a panic attack.

Keith whirled around on his heels, raising his own bayard in preparation to fight again. But there was nothing behind him except the empty hallway.

They were all aiming at him.

"Hey! What the fuck you guys?"

Keith's anger turned to worry in his throat where realized that he had not spoken those words, he'd _growled_ them. As in, an actual growl — like what you'd hear from some feral animal. He felt his lips curl up into a snarl.

Hunk's grip on his blaster lessened, and the barrel sunk downward a few inches, "Keith...look at yourself."

Keith pulled his helmet off and turned to look at his reflection in Red's eyes. He could feel his blood freeze in his veins, his breath had turned to lead in his lungs. That couldn't be his reflection, there was no way it could be. He wasn't Galran, there was no was he could be a Galra. He killed Galra, he didn't become one.

But he was.

His skin had turned a deep lavender, and so had his hair — he was covered in purple, like he had been dipped in paint. The only thing that wasn't were his eyes. Both were an endless yellow, and they seemed to glow with the lack of irises and pupils. His ears had become wider and taller; tufts of downy hair around where they met his head, and they looked like a cross between a feline's and a bat's ears. He reached up to touch them and he suddenly had short, sharp claws sticking out from the holes they had torn in his gloves.

Keith turned back to the team, new eyes searching their shocked faces for any sort of help. They all refused to meet his gaze.

Even Lance — who would spend copius amounts of time making jokes — was now holding his rifle in a vice grip. His finger twitched on and off the trigger as though he couldn't decide whether or not to shoot. Keith was staring down the barrel of the same gun that had been offering him protection earlier that day.

Keith turned to Shiro for something, anything. Shiro loved him. They had loved each other long before Kerberos tore them apart. Surely if anyone could face him, it would be Shiro. And Keith looked at him with desperation scribbled across his alien features, his golden eyes pleading with Shiro in a million silent words.

Keith had to force the voice from his throat, "Shiro, please —"

Shiro threw his hands up and clamped them around his helmet. His chest heaved under his armor, and he hit the ground on trembling knees. His voice was a breathy litany of "no"s.

Pidge had been standing closest to Shiro. They were at his side now, kneeling in front of Shiro with one hand on his shoulder, giving him quiet reassurances and periodically telling him to take a deep breath. Out of old habit, Keith took a step toward Shiro — wanting nothing more than to hold him and kiss his forehead and pull him out of whatever nightmare had risen up.

"Shiro...," Keith's voice was barely above a whisper, as though he was scared to say the name.

But nothing happened. Shiro didn't put his arms around Keith, he didn't hold him close and tell him things would be okay. Keith watched as the only person he loved more than life itself knelt there in the sand, terrified, because of him.

His heart stung in his chest. Voices were calling his name as Keith turned his back and ran into his lion. He threw himself into the pilots seat and charged off into the sky without so much as a second thought. Halfway back to the castle, Hunk tried calling him from the Yellow Lion. Keith immediately turned off his communications channel.

Allura and Coran were waiting for him in his hangar, but Keith couldn't face them. Not like this. Not after they'd lost everything thing to the Galra. Not after they'd sacrificed so much to help fight back against the same species that now, apparently, Keith was a part of.

Red, sensing Keith's apprehension, remained standing and defensive. He could feel that she was just as torn as he was. However, he didn't want to deal with this right now.

Keith put a hand on the wall of the cockpit, and Red eased back on her haunches. She leaned forward to let him leave, but when Keith stepped out he realized that he was the terrified one now.

"Keith?" Allura called, "where are the other Paladins?"

He swallowed. _Fuck it_.

The second his foot hit the floor, he made a break for the door. Keith ran for his room faster than he'd ever run in his life. He'd taken a corner too fast and slammed into the wall, but he didn't care. He would lock himself in his room and then he could think this through, figure out whatever the hell this was.

When he'd made it, he slammed the door shut and locked it behind him. Keith's room was pitch black, but for some reason he could still see fine. He leaned against the door and sucked in air in fast breaths for a few minutes before stripping out of his armor and sliding down onto the floor.

A knot tightened in his throat and his eyes stung. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks as he pressed his face into his knees.

What was he supposed to do now?

 

 

It took two days for Keith to finally come out of his room. He walked out to a crowd of waiting arms, relieved smiles, and promises of support. But he isn't listening, because frankly he doesn't care. Shiro isn't there, and suddenly Keith doesn't care about himself anymore.

Keith interrupted Coran's small speech on the changes in his biology, "where's Shiro?"

"Shiro's, uhh...well, he's...," Lance stumbled around his words, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

Pidge finally cuts in and saves him from having to think for too long. "In his room. He's been having a bit of a rough time with...all of this," they adjusted their glasses when they spoke, a poor substitute for Lance's neck-scratching.

Keith shoved past everyone in a desperate effort to make it to Shiro. What had he done? He, who had told Shiro countless times that he'd never hurt him, that he'd always be there for him. Shiro was scared of Keith.

Keith who had lunged headfirst into a battle where they were comically outnumbered without hesitation, had shut himself away in his dark room until the pleas of his fellow Paladins brought him out.

Keith who was known throughout the Galaxy Garrison school as the cocky, hot-headed pilot, was now afraid of looking at himself in the mirror because all he saw was the enemy.

Keith who would make out with Shiro in the Castle's unused rooms and who would have heated, sensual sex with him in the middle of the night was now terrified to even look Shiro in the eye, because he'd brought back all the unwanted memories he'd sworn to protect him from.

Keith halted in front of Shiro's door, frozen to the spot. What if Shiro hated him now? What if he was asked to leave Voltron? What if, what if, what if...

Keith leaned on the door, his cheek and palm flush on the cold metal. His ears folded down against his hair, and it took him a while to muster up enough courage to speak. The silence on the opposite side of the door was extremely hard to speak to.

"Takashi," he began, shaky and nervous, "I don't know what happened out there. One moment I was Keith and the next...I was just another Galra. I didn't want to hurt you, I never wanted any of this. I'm scared too, but I just — I just don't want you to hate me —"

The door twitched under him, and suddenly it was warm and breathing. It took Keith and embarrassingly long moment to realize he was pressing his cheek and palm to Shiro's broad chest. He startled and took a step back.

Shiro was wearing that tired smile that was almost a signature look at this point. His hair was messy and his red-rimmed eyes immediately gave away his lack of sleep. His cargo pants hung loose over his legs and bare feet; his shirt was untucked. But he was still smiling the same smile that Keith had fallen in love with.

"Keith, I don't hate you," Shiro's voice was rough, but still soft, "I'd never hate you. Even if you're a Galra."

His arms closed around Keith and pulled him into a long overdue embrace. Keith let it happen as the knot in his throat came back, he was tired of fighting this.

"But they — you — Shiro, I —"

Keith was silenced by a pair of lips on his. Warm lips that were half-chapped and carried the taste of dried tears and old panic, but were still soft and sweet.

"You aren't them. I don't care about them," Shiro whispered, and Keith nodded, "we can make this work. I love you, Keith; I don't care what you look like."

Keith nodded again, and let Shiro lead him over to the bed. They laid down, wrapped around each other, and stayed there in the dim light's silence for what felt like hours bordering on endlessness. Every few minutes, Shiro carded a hand through Keith's hair and rubbed his thumbs around the soft, downy hair at the places where Keith's ears met his head. At some point, Shiro was humming, and Keith's eyes were slipping closed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd so mistakes are mine. 
> 
> And did that ending feel rushed to y'all??? Bc I think was rushed (although at this point I doubt I could make it any better but w/e)


End file.
